In the coming weeks the Group Executive team and I will be giving you our thoughts and observations on housing policy and the constant changes to our sector as they arise. We will also highlight the excellent services we provide for our wide range of customers, including older people and supported housing for people experiencing hardship, including homelessness and much more.
For more information on Orbit’s Executive team please follow the link below:
http://www.orbit.org.uk
Paul Tennant - Orbit Group Chief Executive
I’m Paul Tennant – Group Chief Executive of Orbit and I will be kicking off Orbit’s first blog, I hope you find this information useful. I would be pleased to receive any comments you may have. My first entry reflects on the scene we are working within and our ability as an organisation to respond proactively.
We live in changing and challenging times. The extremely difficult economic circumstances as we come very slowly out of recession and still deeply in debt, will lead to considerable cuts in public spending, and/or sizeable tax increases. Cuts to spending or tax increases will have a huge impact on the economy and also every member of our current or future customer base. Unemployment is rising, the cost of the welfare state increases, and in turn the need for Social Housing will increase dramatically. Added to this is the uncertainty of an election probably in May where the parties have differing views on how to bring about recovery, and the importance and future investment in housing.
The demands upon us in social housing are high and are likely to increase significantly in the coming years. Waiting lists are predicted to hit five million, grant will fall as public spending is cut , yet we continue to have a massive supply versus demand challenge facing any future Government and our housing industry.
We as organisations have a number of competing factors to address. The need to ensure existing social housing remains at a Decent Homes plus standard, therefore needing more investing in existing housing stock. The need to deliver higher standards (Code 4 Level of sustainable homes) for new build social housing, further increasing costs of development. Uncertain long-term interest rates, little or no increase in rental income for social housing landlords and banks who are less keen to lend and certainly not at the historically low rates we enjoyed 3 years ago.
All of this means that the sector is facing some real challenges over the coming year and I haven’t even mentioned the requirement to reduce carbon emissions, to slow global warming, preserve energy and the need to reduce energy costs. Huge topics on their own!
At Orbit we are meeting all of these challenges head on and we are well placed to not only survive this array of issues but to come out stronger and in a better position to provide for the needs of the people and communities we serve.
Over the last 7 years we have worked to establish a strong platform for Orbit to build and improve from, and we have been successful. We have increased our focus on customer, improved the range of services we offer, concentrated our stock ownership and increased to 35,000 homes and doubled our turnover. Importantly we were “proportionate” sticking close to our values as an organisation at a time when others became a little too commercial and as a result have suffered.
We are now completing our platform as we simplify the Group and to support our future plans. In the last 6 months we have focused our service delivery to customers on two Operating Associations; we have developed further the value of Orbit Services providing services to members of the Group and others; and we officially launched Orbit Homes in December 2009 to deliver our new build programme for rented, intermediate and outright sale.
All of the above work confirms that Orbit has a clear direction and purpose as an organisation and critically has delivered its plans over the last few years. This will enable us to continue our ambitions around Customer, Place and Organisation. We wish Orbit to be recognised for all the excellent work our people deliver each day and we will be working to enhance our service to customers. We will continue to invest in our existing homes and communities and support the people who live there to improve and enjoy their lives. We will build homes when many others have stopped and innovate to improve procurement and standards. We also continue to improve as an organisation to be a great place to work and ensure our people have the tools they need to do their jobs and be successful.
So yes the environment is tough but challenge is good and we are well placed to take not only survive to improve what we offer and as an organisation.
I would appreciate your views on what more we can do to be better in providing services and as an organisation. We can always learn and improve and by working together and involving all colleagues in what we are we will make Orbit a great organisation doing great things.
We have a genuine opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives and we should not waste it!
PAUL TENNANT
After just over six months in existence, Orbit Homes is already marking itself out as a key developer in both the RSL and commercial sectors, born out by the £14 million of Kickstart 2 funding recently awarded to us by the HCA – meaning we can build just under 300 homes.
